There is currently no effective therapy for men with metastatic prostate cancer who relapse after androgen ablation, even though numerous agents have been tested over the past thirty years. Prolonged administration of effective concentrations of standard chemotherapeutic agents is usually not possible because of dose-limiting systemic toxicities.
Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a 33,000 kDa single chain glycoprotein first characterized from human prostate tissue. PSA is synthesized and secreted as a unique differentiation product of the prostatic glandular cells, both from normal and cancerous cells. Low levels of PSA are detected in normal and cancerous breast tissue also.
Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a chymotrypsin-like serine protease that is measurable in the blood and is used as a clinical test to detect prostate cancer and follow response to therapy. However, PSA is not active in the blood and is only active within tumor sites and in the normal prostate tissue. The concept of capitalizing upon the prostate specific expression of the protease PSA to target therapeutic agents to prostate cancer sites was first proposed in 1992. Since that time, considerable development, research and systematic effort have been applied to bring that idea to fruition. These efforts have resulted in identification of an initial PSA-activated pro-drugs which have been described in detail elsewhere (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,514).
Thapsigargin (TG) is an sesquiterpene-γ-lactone available by extraction from the seeds and roots of the umbelliferous plant Thapsia garganica L. Thapsigargin selectively inhibits the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ -ATPase (SERCA) pump, found in skeletal, cardiac, muscle and brain microsomes. The apparent dissociation constant is 2.2 pM or less.
TG operates by what is believed to be a unique method of killing cells. TG induced inhibition of the SERCA pump leads to depletion of the ER Ca2+ pool. This depletion apparently results in the generation of a signal, possibly from an ER-derived diffusible messenger, so that the plasma membrane is more permeable to extracellular divalent cations. The resulting influx of these cations is responsible for the death of cells.
TG is poorly soluble in water, does not possess cell specificity, and is able to kill quiescent Go cells. For these reasons, unmodified TG would be difficult to administer and deliver systemically without significant non-specific host toxicity.
Accordingly, the need exists for improved tumor-activated pro-drugs for the treatment of cell proliferative disorders, e.g., cancer.